1 Thessalonians 1:1

The Address and Salutation. Ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:1

This being the earliest of St Paul's extant letters, let us note with care the form of his address and introduction, for it is that from which he never departed. But his greetings were enlarged as time went on, and varied with every variation in the circumstances of his readers and in his relations to them.

The ordinary address of an ancient letter ran thus: "X. to Y. greeting." The greeting was, in Latin, a wish of "Health"; in Greek, of "Joy"; in Hebrew, "Peace to thee!" The Apostle's salutation, adopted by the Church, combined the Hebrew and Greek (Jewish and Gentile, Eastern and Western) forms of courtesy, transforming the latter by a verbal change (chaireinbecoming charis) slight indeed to the ear, but great in its significance into the devout and Christian "Grace to you!" On graceand peacesee note below.

The Address is usually followed by an Act of Thanksgiving (1 Thessalonians 1:3 ff.)

1. Paul Here and in 2Th St Paul introduces himself without the title Apostle, or any personal designation. Similarly in his much later Epistles to the Philippians, and to his friend Philemon. For in these cases he has no need to stand on his dignity. He is "gentle among them, as a nurse with her children" (ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:6-8); and prefers, as in writing to Philemon (1 Thessalonians 1:9), to merge the Apostle in the friend. For a further reason comp. note on Apostles, ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:6.

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus "Silvanus and Timotheus" had been Paul's companions at Thessalonica, see Introd. chap. II. The Apostle was accustomed to associate with himself in writing to the Churches any of his helpers present with him and known to his readers. This was courteous, and promoted mutual sympathy.

Silvanus(so in 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:19; 1 Peter 5:12) is the Silas of Acts 15-28; comp. Lucas(Luke) for Lucanus. The name (English, Sylvan: comp. our surname Wood, or Woods) is Latin, like that of Paul himself (Paulus). Both were Roman citizens, as we learn from Acts 16:37. Silas was notwithstanding a Jew a leading member of the Church at Jerusalem, and an inspired man (a "prophet": Acts 15:22-23). Silas shared with the Apostle Paul the honour of planting the gospel and first suffering for Christ in Europe; and his name worthily stands at the head of these earliest books of the N. T. The association of St Silas with St Paul terminated with the Second Missionary Journey of the Apostle. But he is probably the "Silvanus" of 1 Peter 5:12, and his name is, along with that of Mark, a link between the Apostles Peter and Paul.

Timotheus(on whom see further ch. 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2) is our familiar Timothy, as the name is uniformly given in the R. V. He shares In the addresses of 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians,, 1 and 2 Thessalonians; and St Paul toward the close of his life wrote two inspired letters to this most constant and beloved of his companions, his "dear child Timothy." He joined the Apostle in the course of this Second Missionary Expedition (Acts 16:1-3), and remained in his service to the end of St Paul's life. At this time Timothy must have been very young; for he is referred to as a "young man" in 1 Timothy 4:12 and 2 Timothy 2:22, twelve years later. In the narrative of the Acts at this time he stands quite in the background; while Silas took a leading part in the common work, Timothy acted as their youthful attendant and apprentice, just as John Mark was "minister" (or "attendant," R. V.) to Barnabas and Paul at an earlier period (Acts 13:5).

These three names paul, Silas, Timothyare typical of the mixed state of society in Apostolic times, and the varied material of which the Church was at first composed. It was built on a Jewish basis, with a Græco-Roman superstructure. Paul and Silvanus were Jews, with Romanname and citizenship. Timotheus had a Greekname and father, with a Jewishmother (Acts 16:1-3).

So much for the authors of the letter: the readers are designated the Church of Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (R. V.). This remarkable form of address, used in both Epistles, the Apostle does not employ again. We may expand it thus: "To the assembly of Thessalonians, gathered in the twofold Name, confessing God as Father and Jesus Christ as Lord."

Observe the two parts of this description: (1) the localqualification, "church of Thessalonians." Nearest to this is the phrase "churches of Galatia" (Galatians 1:2), named however from the district, not the people. In 1 and 2 Corinthians the address runs, "To the church of God that is in Corinth"; afterwards, "To the saints that are in Ephesus, Philippi," &c. The change from "church ofThessalonians" to "church inCorinth" is significant; it indicates an enlargement during the four years intervening of the conception of the Church, now no longer constituted by the local assembly, but thought of as one and the same Church here or there, in Corinth, Rome, or Jerusalem. Comp. note on ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:14, "churches of God which are in Judæa."

(2) The spiritualdefinition: "the assembly … in God the Father," &c. Churchis in the N. T. ecclesia(French église), the common Greek word for "assembly," or legal meeting of citizens, "called out" by the herald; which in the LXX (the Greek rendering of the O. T.) is applied frequently to the solemn religious assemblies of the people of Israel. The Apostle distinguishes this "assembly of Thessalonians" from both those, gatherings. The Christian ecclesiais "in God the Father," therefore a religions assembly marked off from all that is pagan, having "one God, the Father"; also "in the Lord Jesus Christ," and thus distinguished from everything Jewish and Pagan alike, by its confession of "one Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 8:5-6). The creed of the Thessalonian Church is here contained in brief. Its members had been "baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son"; and all that they believed in and lived for as a Church centred in these two names two, yet one ("in God the Father and the Lord," not "and inthe Lord"). "In God as Father," they knew and owned themselves His children, "In the Lord," they discerned their Saviour's Divine Sonship and glory (1 Thessalonians 1:10); "in Jesus," His human birth and history (ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:14, &c.); and "in Christ," the living Head and Redeemer of His people. This is His full style and title, "The Lord Jesus Christ."

Gracebe unto you, and peace In this earliest Epistle the salutation has its shortest form. The qualifying words, "from God our Father," &c. (see R. V.), are not authentic here; they first appear in 2Th The usage of St Paul's other Epistles naturally led copyists to make the addition here. But the "church" that is "in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," needs not to be told from Whom these gifts come.

Graceis the sum of all blessings that God bestows through Christ. Peaceis the sum of all spiritual blessing that man receives and experiences; it is Grace in its fruit and realisation, In the wide sense of its Hebrew original (Shalóm), Peace is more than the absence of hostility and disorder; it denotes health and harmony of nature, inward tranquillity and wellbeing. And Grace, which in the first instance is God s love and favour to the undeserving, becomes also the inward possession of those who receive it, manifesting itself as the spirit and habit of their lives. The supreme exhibition of God's grace is the death of Christfor sinful men, and the great instrument of peace is the sacrifice of the cross: Jesus "by God's grace tasted death for every man," "making peace through the blood of His cross" (Hebrews 2:9; Colossians 1:20; Ephesians 2:14-18; &c.).

St Paul's whole gospel is in these two words. Grace is his watchword, as Love is that of St John. For his conversion and Apostolic call were, above everything, a revelation of Divine grace: see 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, "By the grace of God I am what I am"; comp. Ephesians 2:7; Ephesians 3:2-8; 1 Timothy 1:12-15. See additional note on grace, 2 Thessalonians 1:12.

Section I. The Thanksgiving and the Reasons for it. Ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

In every Epistle, except Galatians, the Apostle's first words are of thanks and praise to God for the fruits of God's grace found in his readers, according to his own maxim (ch. 1 Thessalonians 5:18), "In everything give thanks." And his thanksgiving is expressed here in the fullest and warmest terms. Its special grounds and reasons lie (1) in the earnest Christian lifeof the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 1:3; which gave assurance (2) of their Divine election, 1 Thessalonians 1:4; already manifest (3) in the signal character of their conversion, which took place under the most trying circumstances, 1 Thessalonians 1:5; and which (4) had greatly furthered the progress of the gospel, 1 Thessalonians 1:7; for (5) everywhere the story was toldof how the Thessalonians had forsaken idolatry in order to serve the true God, and to await from heaven the return of Jesus, 1 Thessalonians 1:9.

This long sentence is a good example of St Paul's manner as a writer. His thought flows on in a single rapid stream, turning now hither, now thither, but always advancing towards its goal. His sentences are not built up in regular and distinct periods; but grow and extend themselves like living things under our eyes, "gaining force in each successive clause by the repetition and expansion of the preceding" (Jowett). See Introd. pp. 32, 33.